Do genetic algorithms and neural networks really think?
Do genetic algorithm and neural networks really think?


Genetic algorithms and neural networks are vastly different concepts. Both of them do not think.


  I'm aware of those AI programmes which can play games and neural networks which can identify pictures. But are they really thinking


Depends on how you define "thinking", but I say "no".


  Do they think like humans?


No.


  Do they have consciousness?


No.


  Or are they just obeying a bunch of codes?


Yes. It is a machine. A program.



One example where most people realize that it is very different is the common thread for RNNs which generate text (example texts). They can generate syntactically correct texts, but they "forget" about any actors in it. They don't connect the cables. 

But then, on the other hand, would you say a bacterium thinks? An ant? A mouse? A dog? A chimpanzee? Do we "think"? Where exactly is the border - and why?